The Butterfly Effect And Beloved

When time features in literature and films, it often shows the relationships between the past and the future. In Beloved (1987), Toni Morrison shows how Sethe had dehumanizing experiences during her years of slavery. Even in freedom, Sethe was reminded of her past which affected her decisions and destroyed her identity. In contrast, in Eric Bress and J. Mackye Grubber’s The Butterfly Effect (2004), Evan witnessed and participated in traumatizing events in his childhood. When he discovers his ability to time travel, Evan alters his past only to find out it damaged his future. Despite bearing substantial differences, both explore how a minor action in the past will result in unforeseen and wide-ranging repercussions in the future. However, whereas …show more content…
Bress and Grubber used filming techniques to develop the disheartening ambience. In the first scene of the movie, Evan is crouched under a table in a dim room as he reads aloud a note: “If anyone finds this, it means my plan didn’t work and I’m already dead. But if I can somehow go back to the beginning of all of this, I might be able to save her.” The darkness symbolizes evil, mystery, and fear developing a melancholy atmosphere. In addition, Evan mentions “death” in his first line foreshadowing the unpleasant events that will occur in the future. Similarly, the introductory line in the novel stated, “124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom” (1). The negative words “spiteful” and “venom” symbolizes the dreadful environment and allows one to gain a sense of the horrors that have taken place and are yet to come. Furthermore, the house was called by its numbers “124” displaying the absence of love that is apparent in a home. It is evident both forms of literature display the dismal atmosphere of the past and foreshadow the unwelcoming events of the …show more content…
Although they don’t seem to have anything in common, in actuality, they both involved characters that had traumatizing experiences in the past which lead to unsolicited events. In Beloved, Sethe’s past of slavery caused her to murder Beloved who then haunted and abused her in the form of a ghost and mental torment. In The Butterfly Effect, Evan’s disturbing childhood provoked him to alter his past yet resulted in him changing his life and the people around him in a negative manner. According to the chaos theory, it has been said something as small as a flutter of a butterfly’s wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the